Obsidian Eyes
by HowlynMad
Summary: Somewhere between fear and desire lies obsession...A woman fighting to save the human race from alien domination...An ancient, powerful being willing to destroy a world to feed his hunger...(AU Atavus-Taleon, Renee-Howlyn, R&R welcomed)
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMERS AND SUCH: I own nothing. Hell I'm still making payments on myself. I write fanfic for my own amusement and thought well, maybe someone else would like to read it too. So, I'm trying a few here. If people seem interested, I'll post what I have to this site. Regardless, I will continue writing as I hope, hope, hope to be published one day soon.  
  
I think I'm supposed to explain a bit how I've messed with the mythos of EFC. I only started watching it a few months ago so I saw the Atavus first. While I think the writing of season 5 was, well, bad. How can you not enjoy the Atavus?? I mean sexy, life force sucking, alien vampires! They're a classic! So the Atavus will be the aliens of first contact followed later by the Taleons. I don't like the Jaridians so to hell with em! I don't know all of the particulars of the series but I will do my best to stay true to the characters and general plot while filling in the blanks with my own skewed POV. I write for adults (or nearly) so there will be violence and sexual content in some chapters. I will apply a warning as they come up.  
  
Obsidian Eyes  
  
Preface  
  
The air hung heavy and deep. The weight of it raining down from the ancient trees, creating a mist that covered the jungle floor. This was a page out of time. A place where wild things still roamed untouched.  
  
This was Earth primeval.  
  
Doctor Greaves rushed into the tent heart thundering in his chest. When he had agreed to lead the expedition into the wilds of South America, he had hoped to at last find the link that interconnected the ancient myths of visitors from other worlds. Every civilization going back to the stone age and beyond had recorded their arrival with cave drawings, writings, and artifacts. They spoke of Gods from the heavens with the power of flight. They spoke of monsters with terrifying powers over mortal man. They spoke of strange, wondrous beings with capabilities far beyond anything known even today.  
  
There was a connection. Greaves believed it. He knew it. And he would find it.  
  
He also knew that his contemporaries either saw him as a fraud or crackpot or worse. But he knew in his heart that he was on the right course. There were far too many similarities in these myths from the far corners of the world to be a coincidence. There had to be something that linked it all into one cohesive answer.  
  
But it wasn't going to be the answer he had waited for. It would however be the answer he died for.  
  
His hands shaking, Greaves pulled the global from his backpack. His breath coming hard and sharp. Flipping it open he keyed in a sequence and waited. The small screen flashed and a distorted image of a woman appeared.  
  
"Damn it, " he muttered. "Renee? Renee, its Ben Greaves, are you there?"  
  
"Ben? Yes? Yes I'm here, but I can barely hear you what's up?"  
  
"Damn sun spots have been interfering with communications for days I'm sorry, he rushed. "Renee, god, Renee you have to help me!"  
  
"It's ok. I can make out what you're saying, stay calm. What's wrong?"  
  
"Renee I need you down here and I mean right now! I've found something. Something big and I don't know whom to trust. This is so far from what I thought.. .. ..  
  
"Whoa Ben, slow down a bit you're breaking up," the voice at the other end prompted the addled scientist.  
  
Greaves paused and tried to catch his breath before replying, "I'm scared Renee. I'm really scared."  
  
The image popped and faded. Static filled the tent. Ben? If you can hear me I'll *** soon *** possible *** help *** don't worry *** And with that the screen went black.  
  
Greaves leaned back in his chair staring at the empty screen. It sounded like help was on the way. At least he hoped that's what she'd been trying to tell him. But until then? Until then, what should he do?  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Making his way down the crescent shaped tunnel, the small lanterns along the wall guided his path. Greaves briefly wondered how much of an idiot he was to be back down here. Especially since he'd warned off the rest of the team, telling them to stay well away from this part of the caverns. How could he not be here though?  
  
Once his shock and fear had worn off, he realized that this discovery was the most momentous one in the history of man. An alien artifact. There he'd said it. Alien. He'd found his link, and then some. This was no longer myth, this was fact.  
  
Coming to the end of the tunnel Greaves raised his flashlight, the bright halogen light caressing the gentle curves of the oval shaped object. Its surface was smooth and iridescent black. The light caused colors to roll along its back like waves. Partially wedged into the wall of the tunnel, Greaves figured the object to be roughly ten feet at its tallest point. Its girth being a bit harder to gauge but Greaves concluded it was probably no more than four feet across.  
  
Enthralled he stepped closer. This was the culmination of his life's work. Soon everyone would know about it, would want to study it. But for now, this was his. And for now, he wanted it all to himself. He ran his hand along its surface. It was warm. He could feel a deep vibration coming from somewhere within it. He leaned against it. "Almost as if its alive," he murmured to himself.  
  
A small click sounded.  
  
Greaves turned and pointed his flashlight back up the tunnel. Nothing. Had he imagined it? He didn't think so. Stepping back, he looked over the artifact closely. There near the top of its curving point.. before it disappears into the wall.. An indentation? A crack?  
  
"What the hell?" he questioned.  
  
Reaching up Greaves pressed his fingers into the indentation. "I know that wasn't there a minute ago," he thought. Silently a line drew itself downwards away from the indentation and disappeared along the underside of the object.  
  
Greaves took two steps back and stared, his blood pressure rising, his heart rate increasing. The line deepened and then split. A small sigh escaped as atmosphere was equalized. His feet rooted to the spot Greaves mouth fell open. The two sides created by the newly formed opening pulled away from one another and then ground to a stop sending bits of earth from the walls cascading downwards. Dust rose up in the tunnel mimicking the mist in the jungles above.  
  
Greaves wanted nothing more at that moment than to flee back up the tunnel as fast as he could but he didn't think his legs were going to continue to hold him upright let alone run. He was frozen in fear, literally. It was a deep, primal terror that his evolved mind wasn't equipped to deal with. Too many years out of the jungle to understand what it meant.  
  
A low rumble resonated through the tunnel. It's deep tones echoing from the walls. Greaves eyes went wide. That almost sounded like a cat, a big..wild..cat. Thoughts of jaguars and other possible predators flitted briefly through his mind. It sounded again. That wasn't a jungle cat. The reverberations were strange, mingled with small deep clicks and hisses.  
  
Then silence.  
  
"Oh god," Greaves murmured with dawning comprehension and turned to bolt away from the artifact.  
  
An inhuman shriek split the air.  
  
Greaves screamed.  
  
Once. 


	2. Chapter 1

Obsidian Eyes Chapter 2  
  
The jeep came to an abrupt halt in the center of camp. Renee Palmer leaped from the driver's seat not bothering to shut the vehicle's engine off. She looked around the encampment at the small group of shell-shocked scientists.  
  
"Where's Peterson?" she demanded.  
  
"I'm Peterson." A drawn, tired figure stepped forward and offered his hand.  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
The circle of people shuffled nervously. One older man lay his hand over the sidearm tucked in his belt.  
  
"This way," Peterson offered and pointed towards a tent at the far edge of the clearing.  
  
Renee threw back the canvas and stepped into the semi darkness. Her eyes fell upon a figure that lay covered on a small cot. "Oh Ben," she spoke softly, "What happened to you?"  
  
"Believe me Miss Palmer, we'd like to know the same thing," Peterson replied.  
  
She walked over to the cot staring down at the blanketed body.  
  
"When we spoke you didn't offer any details Mr. Peterson. I know that Ben was afraid concerning this discovery of his. If someone murdered him in order to steal it, they have seriously miscalculated," her voice hard. She reached down to pull the blanket aside.  
  
"Wait, Miss Palmer." something in the tone of the young scientist's voice made Renee turn to face him.  
  
"I just want to warn you before you look at him. We don't know what happened to him. None of us has ever seen anything like it and I don't mind saying its got us more than a bit freaked."  
  
Renee had seen her share of dead and dying. It was never easy and never harder than when it was a friend. She grasped the edge of the blanket and slid it down.  
  
Totally unprepared for what she saw Renee gasped and took a step back. Throwing her hand over her mouth, she stifled the bile that rose up in her throat.  
  
The body looked completely desiccated. Shrunken and pale Ben Greaves face was barely recognizable to her. She could have just as easily been looking at an ancient mummy as the friend she spoke with only forty eight hours before. "What, what is this?" she sputtered out.  
  
"I was hoping maybe you could tell me," Peterson offered. We found him like that about six hours ago, down in the tunnels. Peterson gathered his courage and walked over to stand next to her. "He was down there...with "it"  
  
"It?"  
  
"What we found," he offered.  
  
Renee leaned in pulling the blanket off and dispassionately examined the body. The front of Ben's shirt had been shredded and lay in tatters against his skin. His chest looked as if it had been raked by large claws. "These marks here on his chest," she pointed, "it almost looks like an animal attacked him."  
  
"I know and there are some fair size predators around here, like jaguars, but they don't hunt in the caves. And even if it had been a big cat what does that have to do with the condition of his body? Its, its like a husk," Peterson stated haltingly. "Like everything inside of him was just sucked dry."  
  
"I want to see this thing you found whatever it is. I want to see it now," she stated. 


	3. Chapter 2

Obsidian Eyes Chapter 2  
  
Peterson led the way through the tunnel sweeping his light in a wide shaky arc. Renee didn't have to wonder what he was feeling. Fear. She couldn't say she blamed him much. Whatever had happened to Ben Greaves was horrific. But she would find out who or what was responsible. That was a promise. And then.. A voice shook her from her contemplation.  
  
"This is it."  
  
Casting her light over its surface Renee studied the object before her, stunned. "I'll be damned," she offered.  
  
"Amazing isn't it? Not much doubt at what we're looking at is there?"  
  
Renee shook her head slowly.  
  
"I mean we don't know what it is exactly, but we do know what its not. It's not terrestrial."  
  
Reaching out Renee laid her hand against its deep black surface. It was cool and still to the touch. Oblong, its smooth rounded form had small juts along its top and bottom edges. As if the object had once fit into something else, something larger. "I have a few friends in the ministry. Ones that can be trusted. I'd like to have this thing examined by the pros as soon as possible."  
  
"Considering everything that's happened getting it out of here may be the best course of action," Peterson agreed.  
  
"I'll make the calls. Until then, it would be better if we cordoned this area off. I don't want anyone else possibly getting hurt, or worse," she left the rest implied.  
  
With one last look Renee started back up the tunnel sure that she had found the connection to Ben's death.  
  
Back in her assigned tent, Renee busied herself going through all the data Ben had collected so far on the object. He was thorough. What interested her most were the energy readings that emanated from inside it. There was a power source there. Readings didn't lie.  
  
Ben had noted the object felt warm to the touch. "Not any more," she mused and wondered what the change foretold. Squinting at the information she realized that it had become dark in the tent. Glancing at her watch, it was after seven. She should be hungry. Rubbing her eyes, Renee figured she wouldn't have her appetite back for quite awhile.  
  
Reaching for the lantern, an almost imperceptible low hiss crawled along Renee's spine. She froze. Her ears straining to catch any sound.  
  
Slow, deep like the exhalation of breath the disquiet traveled up and down her skin. Frantically she tried to remember where she had tossed her firearm. A rumble seemed to vibrate the air around her. Through the canvas of the tent wall, she could see a shadow moving silently. Her eyes cut to the cot and her nine millimeter. It was only a step away all she had to do was.. reach.  
  
The vocalization deepened sounding like thunder in her ears. There was nothing implied in that sound. It was a clear threat. Renee threw herself forward and grabbed the weapon spinning into a crouch. Bringing the gun into place pointed at the last place she had seen movement behind the canvas.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Her arm outstretched Renee spun three hundred and sixty degrees bringing the weapon to bear. No sound, no movement, she pulled the canvas flap back and charged forward. There was no one. Lights from the other tents glowed softly in the clearing. Obviously, no one else had heard anything.  
  
Scanning the edges of the clearing, she relaxed her stance. She trusted her instincts and right now, they were telling her that she was being observed. There beyond the trees something was watching, waiting.  
  
She'd be ready.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
He watched the female secure the perimeter before going back inside her shelter. He sensed her strength and determination. His obsidian eyes raked over her form and he purred in appreciation. He would enjoy tasting this prey, feeling her lifeforce feeding his. Taking her body and then her soul.  
  
His lips parted languidly as his voice sought to vocalize the alien sounds. A single word purred forth..  
  
Renee.  
  
NOTE: Thanks for the encouragement! I hope to post at least a couple of chapters a week if not more until I wrap it up. 


	4. Chapter 3

NOTE: Thank you, Sapphira. I consider what you wrote to be the definitive H/R fanfic and I can never hope to rival it. But I do hope that I can put a fresh twist on the story by making it AU and adding a lot of Howlyn's POV. Get inside his skin, which may or may not be a good thing. Ladies, you'll have to let me know. *wicked grin*  
  
Obsidian Eyes Chapter 3  
  
His claws dug into bark as he scaled the towering tree with ease.  
  
Nearing its pinnacle, he stopped, looking out over the jungle floor. In the distance, he could see the faint lights of the human encampment; further still, he could see a glowing haze. His eyes honed in on it. The iris' opening wide until the surface of his eyes were filled with ebony.  
  
"A large concentration of humans possibly even a city," he speculated.  
  
Things had changed while he slumbered. Many things. But the old man had been informative. Drawing the human's lifeforce into himself, taking not only energy but also knowledge. Memories. Taking everything until there was nothing left. He had been so hungry.  
  
The moment the seal on his stasis pod ruptured his instinct had taken hold. He couldn't have stopped himself even if he tried. It was as natural as breathing. But instinct alone would not serve him now. If he were to regain all that was rightfully his he would have to use cunning as well.  
  
Humans were nothing more than livestock. Though, it now appeared that they had gained some measure of intelligence. Not to mention their sheer numbers. All this and more he had gained from his feeding. There would be much to do to bring the humans to heel once again. The good Doctor Greaves had been an excellent chess player. Interesting game of strategy, chess.  
  
The Atavus smiled to himself stretching his lithe body along the thick branch, muscles rippling through his protective exosuit.  
  
As he plotted his next move.  
  
********************************************************************  
  
The sun peeked through the tree trunks to announce the dawning of a new day.  
  
Renee hadn't slept a wink. Her mind had been thrumming, rolling around all the events of the past few days, of everything that had happened. She knew soon when the grief over losing Ben hit she would bottom out hard. Truth to be told she was more than a little too tense to be sleeping after the "incident".  
  
The "incident," she snorted softly.  
  
Something had been outside her tent, plain and simple. Probably just an animal looking for scraps and had it not been for the death of Ben Greaves she might have been able to just leave it at that. But the marks on his chest said otherwise.  
  
How did an apparent animal attack tie into the artifact in the cave? And had the object caused the damage to Greaves body? Could the animal attack have come after he died? Just some creature looking for a free meal perhaps. Sighing she pulled herself out of bed. "Coffee that's what I need to clear my head," she thought, a good cup of strong coffee.  
  
Putting on her sunglasses, she stepped into the day.  
  
"Morning everyone," Renee commented as she pulled the coffeepot away from the fire. The group of six looked much as she had seen them when she first arrived. Shell shocked, tired and scared. They hadn't signed on for anything like this. Looking around she noticed Peterson wasn't among them. "Peterson not awake yet?" she queried.  
  
"I'm here," she heard a dull voice from behind her. Peterson shuffled towards the fire as if his feet were leaded. His eyes were red and ringed with dark circles. He looked horrible.  
  
Renee looked him over with concern. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Fine, I'm fine," he said with little conviction. "I just had..a bad night."  
  
"I can see that," Renee answered. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his face. He looked slightly fevered. Renee hoped to hell that contagion wasn't also going to be an issue. She hadn't mentioned it to the group as they had all been exposed to the artifact and to Ben. So if contagion was involved they all had long since been contaminated. No use starting a panic.  
  
"Maybe you should take it easy, get some rest, Dan isn't it?, she offered.  
  
"I'll be fine, Miss Palmer. I have things I must attend to before your people get here," he stated and with that walked away without another word.  
  
"Ok that was odd," she thought. But hell she didn't know Peterson maybe he was always abrupt before coffee. The others looked slightly lost as well, but offered no opinions.  
  
Sighing she looked towards the tent at the far end of the clearing. She'd been putting it off since she first seen Ben's body but she knew she had to go back for a closer look. She had to find some answers. She had a team arriving later and she needed to know that she wasn't putting more people in danger.  
  
Walking into the tent slowly, she set the medical case on the small writing table her eyes never leaving Ben's body. Pulling out a scanner and a pair of latex gloves she took a deep breath and pulled back the blanket. Peterson had called it a husk. That was an accurate description. Renee ran the scanner up and down checking the readings for any anomalies that might tell her what had happened to her friend.  
  
There was nothing. And that was strange in of itself. "There should be microorganisms of some sort still alive in his body or on it," she thought uncomfortably, "Some trace of electrical current".  
  
Yet, there wasn't. Stranger still was all his organs and blood seemed to be intact. "Freeze dried for lack of a better description but intact," she puzzled.  
  
There were four evenly spaced wounds trailing down his upper chest. Tentatively she reached out and ran her fingers along the gashes. The skin where she touched crumbled like leaves. Shaken, she pulled her hand back and just studied the marks instead.  
  
They were fairly deep, centered right below the midline clavicle running downwards to stop between the ribcage. The top edge of the gashes were deeper as if the claws or talons had been driven forward like a knife. "Claws are normally more curved than that aren't they?" Renee questioned herself. They were meant to rip and tear flesh rather than penetrate.  
  
She shook her head. Who was she kidding? She didn't know anything about animal attacks. She didn't know anything at the moment other than her friend was dead and there was what appeared to be an artifact of alien origin lodged in a cave wall. All she had was what she felt and her gut feeling was telling her that the slash marks on Ben's chest had more to do with the condition of his body and what was going on than anyone had so far been able to connect.  
  
She knew it.  
  
Call it instinct. 


	5. Chapter 4

NOTE: Believe it or not, I actually do have the plot of this already laid out. How all the strings will tie together. The trick will be to keep all the twists and turns on track, and not wander off. But its so hard not to just get to the "good stuff" if you know what I mean. But there wouldn't be much plot in that, so hopefully I'll be entertaining enough until then.  
  
Obsidian Eyes Chapter 4  
  
Nervously, Peterson pulled the barricade away from the tunnel entrance. He had instructions on what had to be done before the retrieval crew arrived.  
  
Absently he rubbed his hand against his chest, right below the neckline. He winced. Closing his eyes tightly, he tried to steady his breathing, which had become ragged and uneven. He had been told that failure was not an option. He didn't want to do this but he knew he no longer had a choice.  
  
Walking slowly, he pulled his global from his pocket and keyed in. A woman's face filled the screen. "I need to speak with Mr. Sandoval, immediately."  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
To say that Renee Palmer was unhappy would be an understatement. To say that she was down right pissed off would be closer to accurate. Her team had been held up at Manaus due to a weather front.  
  
Getting equipment capable of moving the artifact away from this area without air support would be nearly impossible and Renee wanted it taken to a secure location as soon as could be arranged. So she was left to spend yet another unsure night in the wilds of the Brazilian jungles.  
  
Looking out into the tree filled vista a sense of foreboding caressed her skin. It was the same sensation she had from last night. When she had heard the strange growls coming from outside her tent. The sensation that she was being watched. Stalked.  
  
Trying to shake the unsettling feeling, she headed towards the fire in hopes of bringing back her appetite. Something did smell good. But she didn't quite make it.  
  
A shot rang out.  
  
Renee broke into a dead run towards the center of camp. Everyone was panicked, yelling and pointing.  
  
"What the hell is going on," she demanded.  
  
A man by the name of Valenta called out, Jameson, it's Jameson, he headed out away from camp.." "That way," he pointed.  
  
"Jameson, he was the one that always carried the firearm. Apparently, he knew how to use it too," she concluded. Another shot rang out. Renee pulled her own weapon and ran towards the report. "How stupid is this guy to head off on his own," she muttered. They already had one unexplained death. She sure as hell didn't want another on her hands.  
  
A roaring shriek filled the air.  
  
Renee stopped up short. Her heartbeat in her throat. The hair on the back of her neck stood. What was it!? Spinning around she tried to ascertain which direction it had come from.  
  
Another roar, this one deeper, like thunder, followed by the same high pitched shriek. "My god," she whispered, the dual harmonics making it hard for her to pinpoint its location.  
  
Turning to the east she cautiously crept forward, swinging her weapon in a slow side to side motion. Her eyes scouring the underbrush for any signs of movement. Coming to a halt, she listened. The jungle was silent, completely silent. No birds no insects not a sound. Whatever it was, was still close. Close enough that the other jungle dwellers had opted to flee.  
  
She decided to take a risk. "Jameson?" she called out. A slight rustling up ahead made her start. Focusing on the small sound, she would never know just how close she'd come to the answer.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Watching the woman from his perch twenty feet above, the Atavus was impressed by her bravery, her tenacity. Charging forward to aid her companion, facing an unknown danger head on. This was a warrior. He had known it from his first contact with her. Her aura was strong. He could see the glow of it around her, pulsing in time with her heart.  
  
He lifted his head slightly inhaling her scent. She was also very appealing to him in other ways. He growled low in his chest. Unlike his jet black hair hers was golden like sunlight. Her eyes like the sky. He wished he could mark her now but having set his plan in motion, he knew he must curtail his appetite until he reached the cities of America.  
  
There he would hunt with impunity.  
  
There he would raise an army.  
  
There he would reclaim what was his.  
  
Cocking his head to the side, he reached out with his enhanced senses. He pinpointed the woman easily, she had moved well off from his location.  
  
Only now did he risk moving.  
  
He loosened the claws of his right hand from the branch he perched on. Turning his head he glanced at the human impaled by his extended cleaves on the left. Though all the lifeforce was drained, he could still feel the heat in his cleaves. The vibration of power humming up his arm to his very core. It was intoxicating. He purred lightly closing his eyes.  
  
When he opened them his lips curled in disgust at the empty husk. Drawing back his arm, he pulled away from the corpse watching as it plummeted to the jungle floor where its impact blew it into ash.  
  
Balancing easily on the branch he stood and stepped forward into air. Landing with barely a sound, he uncurled gracefully and like the predator he was, disappeared into the jungle. 


	6. Chapter 5

NOTE: StarTraveler, Liam does have a place in the story but it will be just a bit later on. So don't worry they'll be something for everyone, I hope. And Sapphira you wanted eye catching so how's that?  
  
As to typos, if you saw how I typed, you'd consider yourselves lucky LOL. Spell check just doesn't grab em all but I can always slow the flow and do some old fashioned eyeballing. Anyway thanks for all the input. I'm glad someone's enjoying my efforts.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Renee had spent the last hour trying in vain to calm the ever-increasing panic that was overcoming the camp. She knew from experience, they had to stick together and maintain order.  
  
Giving in to their fears would only make them more vulnerable to whatever was out there. Still, even she couldn't help but feel the old "blanket over the head" response.  
  
If you can't see it then it can't get you! A childish refrain that in this case would most certainly get them all killed in their beds.  
  
"Look, all we have to do is stay close to the fire until morning. Then we'll be on our way to Manaus," Renee promised them. The declaration was less than appeasing. They weren't convinced. "I'm armed with a nine millimeter and we have a rifle," she pointed out. "We can defend ourselves."  
  
"I hope," she thought to herself.  
  
"And what about Jameson?" Valenta questioned, "Do we just leave him out there?" he demanded. Heads nodded in unison.  
  
"No one will be left behind. When we have reinforcements, armed reinforcements, we'll search the area again until we find something." In truth, Renee didn't believe that they'd find Jameson, not alive anyway. Not after what she'd heard. What she'd felt.  
  
A suspicion was blossoming in her mind. One with such far reaching repercussions that she didn't even want to contemplate it. But the stranger the facts became the more obvious the conclusion.  
  
Looking around the group, she noticed Peterson standing apart, staring off into the brush. He had been subdued all day. In fact, he hadn't even been there when she returned with the news that Jameson was gone. Where the hell had he been? Gunshots weren't enough to get his attention?  
  
She studied him. He still looked pale and drawn but not sickly as he was this morning. It wasn't contagion, at least not one that the scanners could pick up. She'd gone over the camp and the tunnel after her examination of Ben's body. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the way of microbes. Maybe it was time she had a little chat with him.  
  
Peterson jumped when a cup of coffee appeared under his nose.  
  
"Sorry didn't mean to startle you," Renee offered.  
  
"It's ok," he responded, "I'm just a bit preoccupied."  
  
"Yes I noticed that. Are you alright?"  
  
He unconsciously scratched at his chest. "I'm fine."  
  
Renee nodded her head knowing that it was a lie. "Tell me something." "Where were you when I got back to camp?"  
  
"That got his attention," she noted. His eyes came up to match hers. Something dark mirrored in them. Something she couldn't quite place.  
  
"Now that's not really any concern of yours is it," he snapped.  
  
"You want to bet?" she challenged. "You were down in the tunnels weren't you? It's the only place where you wouldn't have heard the gunshots."  
  
He remained silent.  
  
"Listen to me Peterson, if you're holding out on me, I'll make sure the fan's pointed at you when the shit hits it! This isn't a game, one man is dead and another is missing or dead. If you know something, you had better tell me now before it goes any further."  
  
He turned away before answering, "I wish I could help you Miss Palmer but you have to believe me there's nothing I can do."  
  
A retort sprang off her tongue only to be silenced by a loud "wump, wump, wump.."  
  
The air around them came alive as leaves and bits of refuse started spinning like a mini tornado. A bright light pierced the gloom of early evening as the large chopper circled above their heads.  
  
Renee heard shouts of exaltation from the beleaguered scientists. They danced around slapping each other on the back, laughing with relief. Rescued at last.  
  
Problem was, that wasn't a military chopper. Which meant that wasn't the team she had sent for to get them and the artifact out. Someone else had been alerted to the situation. She looked over at Peterson. It wasn't hard to figure out how. But who ever it was, she had no intention of just handing over the object in that cave.  
  
Rocking slightly the craft set down close enough to cause the tents to ripple and strain. The chopper shouldn't even be up with the thick cloud cover that permeated the area. Renee shook her head. "What idiot is flying that thing?" she questioned.  
  
As the blades wound down and the engine slowed, the door slid open and a figure jumped to the ground followed by two commando types. Striding purposefully towards her, she scowled, instantly recognizing this new player.  
  
Ronald Sandoval. 


End file.
